Time for one post

If you thought the airwaves turned blue every time the Con war room cranked up in the last eighteen months you ain't see nuthin' yet. I refer to the obscene amount of money that is being spent and more to come in the fight over the "Employees Fair Choice Act (EFCA) in the USA. Both Congress and the Senate introduced the bill yesterday and the opposition has gone berserk.

What is the EFCA? It is a bill that proposes change to the Union Organising rules in the States. At the moment only 13% of workers are unionised. Critics say that is because rules make it very hard for a worker to get a union. The biggest complaint is that it takes too long for supervised votes to take place. During that time workers will be coerced, intimidated and in some cases threatened if they maintain their membership and don't vote the union out.

For a good description of the problem read this. If you live anywhere the US airwaves exist be prepared for some rabid advertisements. I bet both the Libs and Cons are watching very carefully.

A busy day for me but a guest link instead

For the second day in a row I am pleased to link to Wally K's site to push traffic (isn't that what the internet is all about - sharing the airwaves) to display his latest column. Well illustrated he outlines his opinion in prose that the MSM will not publish - hurray for brave cyberspace.


Click here to read the full piece

An invitation from Wally K

Hello Cobourgerers

This emailing marks a new milestone. The BCC list now contains over 100 subscribers. My mail distribution program requires me to package the list in two blocs. Thank you for forwarding my email to other interested parties, who are welcome to become part of the list.

Today's emailing is an invitation to a blog entry in COBOURG OF ALL THINGS. Just click here. It consists of a few short videos of poetry readings -- I especially want to draw your attention to one woman poet, Vanessa Hidary. I've performed at several venues in Canada, mostly Toronto, and they are all too often bloated with banality and piety. My good friend, Robert Priest, gives great performance. But Vanessa Hidary is head and bare shoulders a babe with blast. Click on the videos, and see that poetry is not an arcane art form consisting of pious tut-tuts drinking tea with white gloves & raised pinkies.

For a bit of visual poetry, click here to see the latest news on the development of a new drug called WRITE AWAY, a decongestant to break writer's blockade. Below it is the first advertisement, and below that is the transportation system and highway system. Stay tuned for further developments from the Imagine Nation of the Peoples Republic of Poetry.

Enjoy.

All good things
Wally Keeler

Another Council on the lighter side!

A fart interrupts the show. This reminds me of the occasions when a former councillor and later to be Deputy Reeve couldn't stop giggling whenever the phrase "cause to be erected," or the single word "erection(s)" was read into bylaws.

And I thought this was going to a boring week

"Councillor Dean McCaughey, a member of the committee and the councillor putting forth the motion of censure, asked for an apology and retraction of her remark last week. These were not proffered."
This sentence came from an article in the new CDS, story here. What it really means is that the dead white men on Council - all the other councillors - have found a way to slap down the uppity woman. These guys have never forgotten the rebuke that was given to them, a reduced numbers of votes than the election before, and have never forgotten that a woman beginner got more votes than them. Admittedly Miriam Mutton may have been out on a limb when she accused Dean McCaughey of having undeclared conflicts of interests when dealing with items in the past. But she should have been able to back up what she said, if as she states that the suspected people on the committee who may have had connections to AECOM but naming them is a matter of privacy, then her stand is defensible.
It is not hard to imagine that when Dean McCaughey sat down last week after a public rebuke from Miriam Mutton, that he realised revenge is best served cold. So he sandbagged her at Council in public. Obviously every other councillor was in on it because none of them came to her defense about the timing of the motion. At least it should have been a "notice of motion" to be voted on next week.
More to come tomorrow when the new CDS publishes her side. This event is going to be dragged out - mainly to sell newspapers.

Video in the page - it works!

This is a test of embedding video

Hey it worked enjoy
ben

Not quite "I told you so"

Obama is now talking about having a discussion with the Taliban, what kept you buddy? Taliban Jack has been saying we should talk to these guys for over three years now and all he got was the nickname and abuse. Funny old world isn't it.

Another two needless deaths out west. Two skiers, who ignored both signs and yellow tape have killed themselves and injured a couple of others, pity! But how do we as a society approach the problem of public recklessness? Not very well apparently because it is still a problem. We know better in Cobourg though, we have stamped out that kind of foolishness. We have banned ice fishing in the harbour.

GM and the CAW have come to an agreement about what the workers will have to take out of their CBA. Pensions raises frozen, extra days off lost, and a cost of living increase. killed Not much impact on the pockets of the workers but a huge concession to the Company. Now let's stop the bleating about labour costs being too high.

An interesting article here about solar power operations in the Nevada desert. But with the news that a Company is coming to the east of town to setup a solar farm one should read it. The really fascinating point is tucked away in the middle where it is explained in a large solar-voltaic plant (I believe that that is what is proposed for here) there is only ONE fulltime employee hired to operate the plant.

A new leader same old problem

This picture tells all. There is not a party establishment person in it. None of the Lewis clan, none of the Energy Probe sect just a couple of working class males and a person with community roots in the middle. Whether the party caucus accepts this win, but obviously the party has, fully is yet to be seen but with a brand new, uppity (only been in the Leg five years) woman leader we will have to wait and see. The last woman leader - Lynn Mcleod certainly had to prove more than her chops in the first couple of years. Let's see how Andrea can cope with the traditional settling in period.

Do this but only if you have 30 mins to spare

Garth Turner was interviewed here on a recent TVO programme by Allen Gregg. Pushing his book "After the Crash" Garth gives his opinion on how anyone can come out this depression with as little damage to themselves as possible. Very interesting. Blogspot, or I, haven't figured out how to embed video clips so this clip will open in a new window. Expand to full size and the resolution is better than I would have expected. But as I said it is 26 minutes long - all of it rivetting.

The political stars realign in Ontario

With both opposition parties in rebuilding phases (the ONDP electing a leader yesterday, and the OConParty still without one) Dalton McG has the most room to maneuver. The Cons will probably elect a leader that will puul the party into its natural position, much to the right of where John Tory wanted it to be and the ONDP will have the space on the left when DM moves the Libs to the centre right (where he is most comfortable)

With Andrea Horvath (I am proud to say that for the first time in years I have actually backed a winner - much to my partner's chagrin) the new NDP leader look for much social policy based in the class struggle. That's where the battles are going to be in this coming depression. Just how will the province deal with the EI victims as they drop off the rolls and have to collapse all their assets before being allowed one penny of Provincial welfare money. Working class folk will be suffering more than then shrinking middle class and their knowledge based jobs. One can only sustain a service industry for so long and DM will bearing the brunt of the problem.

So look for the change in attitude that AH will bring to the house and I look forward to real working class issues being the centre of attention instead of airy-fairy environmentalist based ones. "It's the economy stupid!"